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Though we sometimes wonder if the church can make an impact in the 21st century, the evidence is clear: God is doing amazing things around the world. Here are some of the reports shared at the recent World Evangelical Summit (as reported by Daryl McCarthy and shared with us by Derl Keefer): Mongolia: Once the most closed country in the world with only 4 Christians in 1989, now there are 20,000 Christians worshipping in over 100 churches and 500 house churches. Cambodia:
In the late 1970's there were only 2,000 Christians; now there
are Nepal: The first church began in 1959 with only 29 believers; now there are over 500,000 in more than 5,000 congregations, with a church in every one of the 75 districts of Nepal. China: Unparalleled growth in the entire history of Christianity, from 1.2 million Protestants in 1949 when Communism took over to as many as 90-100 million today. South Korea: South Korea is the largest sender of missionaries in Asia with 12,000-15,000 missionaries. In Ukraine, ten years ago there were 2,000 churches. Now there are over 12,000 churches. In Latin America, Evangelicals total nearly 69 million, or about 15% of the population. In 1998, there were 743 new evangelicals added to the church every hour, or 17,841 every day. There is good news of God's activity around the world, but there is still much to be done. Around the world, evangelical churches and alliances are struggling to respond to the pressing problems of poverty, AIDS, crime, violence, tribalism, injustice and disease. As John Stott reminds us, we must take the whole Gospel to the whole person in the whole world. Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. If you missed this year's National Conference on Preaching, click here to learn about ordering audio cassettes and CDs of conference sessions and workshops.
Preaching as Hate Speech? Swedish pastor Ake Green is back under the gun for a statement he made in a sermon equating homosexuality to a "deep cancer" on society. According to a BBC report, Pastor Green's statement led to his conviction of hate crimes in June 2004; the Pentecostal preacher was given a 30-day suspended prison sentence. But in February of this year an appeals court threw out the case, saying it was not illegal to offer an interpretation of the Bible and urge others to follow it. Now Sweden's Supreme Court has agreed to review the case at the request of the nation's chief prosecutor, who argues that Green's comments did amount to hate speech. Green was the first minister convicted under Sweden's new hate crimes law, which was passed in 2003. (Click here to read the BBC report.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/4530209.stm
The Church of Oprah? Writing in the May 10 Washington Post, Eugene Robinson talks about participating in one of the stops on Oprah Winfrey's national tour, and sees more than a motivational event — he sees a religious experience: "There were a few men in line at the cavernous Washington Convention Center the other day, but they were corks bobbing in a sea of estrogen. It was basically a crowd of women, all colors and all ages. They all seemed to have a certain light in their eyes as they waited to see a woman who comes into their lives daily through her talk show and monthly through her eponymous magazine, whose every cover she glamorously graces. . . . "A little voice in my head started murmuring, 'Cult of Oprah, Cult of Oprah, Cult of Oprah. . . .' But the little voice had it wrong. Martha Stewart has a cult, with rituals and fetishes — applying the sprinkles to a frosted cupcake one by one with tweezers, that sort of thing. Oprah presides over something grander and more significant. It's more like a church. . . . "Oprah's great gift, and the foundation of her lay ministry, is her understanding that even women who have enjoyed great success in their personal and professional lives can still struggle to find meaning and fulfillment, and that they can learn from Oprah's own search for the same things. . . . Oprah is far from a completely open book herself, but she reveals more than enough of her life to let her followers see a reflection of their own uncertainties, their own insecurities and, ultimately, their own strengths. She gives them resilience, a second or third or fourth chance at love, happiness, contentment, enlightenment. "Inside at the 'Live Your Best Life' extravaganza, attendees heard Oprah speak of her own life experience — how everyone counted her out, how no one thought she could make it, how she believed in herself. They heard her talk about spirituality. They heard Maya Angelou's poem 'Phenomenal Woman.' After the liturgy, the women in attendance went forth renewed. "Thus went the services at the Church of Oprah, which is the church of possibility." (Click here if you'd like to read the entire article.) So what is it that has made Oprah such an influential cultural force and — dare we say it — a spiritual leader for millions of women? And are there implications for the church? We'd like to hear your thoughts; drop us a note at feedback@preaching.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/09/AR2005050901015.html
The need for story In the May 2005 issue of Focus on the Family magazine, Focus VP Kurt Bruner writes, "I grew up attending churches that used expository teaching. Each Sunday the pastor would invite the congregation to 'open your Bibles' to the passage for his sermon. Then we would expect the next 30 to 40 minutes to include three points, a poem and two application lessons, while we wondered, When will this end? "You've probably had a similar experience. It isn't that we don't want to listen, learn and grow in our spiritual walk; we just bore easily. "Contrast this to what happens when you hear the phrase, 'Once upon a time.' You expect adventure, conflict, good guys, villains and romance. Some stories draw a smile, others a tear. But they hold our attention while we wonder, How will this end? "Unfortunately, many who embrace the reality of Christ have missed His story. I did. Graduating from seminary and getting my theological ducks in a row may have informed my mind, but it did little to inspire my heart. Somehow I missed the drama of the gospel, experiencing more passion watching Luke Skywalker on a quest to defeat Darth Vader than I did reading about Christ on His quest to defeat death."
ILLUSTRATION: Exclusivity, Pluralism In a recent article for LeadershipJournal.net, Ben Patterson writes, "Few issues portend so much for the future of the church, because none carries so much potential to fly in the face of the spirit of the age. I speak of the infatuation with pluralism and inclusivism and certain brands of multiculturalism; the belief in the egalitarianism of opinions and feelings — that it is not only wrong, but rude and bigoted to think that some people's ideas and feelings may not be as good or as valid as others. It's the 'Who's to Say?' syndrome: Who's to say what is right? The answer is everyone, or no one, or both. Whatever. It's cool. "Faithful stewards of the household of God must practice the discipline of saying both yes and no. It's hard, it's not fun, and it doesn't usually preach to packed houses. But believers in every age have had to learn it or lose the faith. It wasn't enough for Nicea to say that Christ was begotten of the Father. It had to say, "begotten, not made." It wasn't enough for the signers of the Barmen Declaration to declare that Christ was Lord; they had to add that Hitler was not. "Without declaring the no, we become the church that Machen observed in his day: 'conservative in an ignorant, non-polemic, sweetness-and-light kind of way, which is just meat for the wolves.' "Saying no is part of the nature of our faith, a faith that Alan Watts, the Anglican-turned-Hindu, found to be 'a contentious faith . . . uncompromising, ornery, militant, rigorous, imperious, and invincibly self-righteous.' So be it. But its narrowness is the narrowness of the birth canal, or of a path between two precipices — or of a lifetime spent loving one woman." (Click here to read the full column.) http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2004/cln40120.html
ILLUSTRATION: Persistence Charles F. Kettering was known as a "screwdriver and pliers" inventor who eventually became director of research and development at General Motors Corporation. At his death in 1958 Kettering was co-holder of more than 140 patents and possessed honorary doctorates from nearly thirty universities. Among his inventions were the electric cash register; electric starters for automobiles; the spark plug; Freon for refrigerators and air conditioners; safety glass; four-wheel brakes; and the automatic transmission for General Motors vehicles. One wonders how many times he tried and failed at some of these ideas until he found the design that worked. Here is one of his quotes: "It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again." (Tom Barnard, Tuesday Mornings newsletter)
ILLUSTRATION: God's Love Pastor Vic Pentz says that, "For reasons we cannot always understand God chooses to make his deepest connection with us when we are at our lowest. "At the beginning of the Pulitzer-prize winning play Wit, written by Atlanta schoolteacher Margaret Edson, the main character, Vivian Bearing, is on top of the world. The world's foremost authority on the 17th century metaphysical sonnets of the English poet John Donne, 50-year-old Vivian is a brilliant woman — and an insufferable intellectual snob. Then comes the great equalizer: she is struck with ovarian cancer. The play follows her from her initial height to the depths of her illness. "When she is at the bottom, she is visited by her mentor and former professor, now an elderly woman, who arrives in town and happens to hear that her former prize student is now on her deathbed. Incidentally, she is Vivian's first visitor. In an amazing scene, this old professor slips under the covers of the hospital bed alongside Vivian Bearing. Even though they are both renowned scholars in the field of 17" century English poetry, the professor reads to Vivian from a children's book, The Runaway Bunny:
"At this point in the story, Vivian's mentor pauses and remarks, 'Look at that, will you, a little allegory of the soul. No matter where it hides, God will find it.' And then, very pointedly, she says to her dying friend, 'Vivian, do you see? Do you see?' "She wanted Vivian to realize that even though she had been running from God her whole life, God had been seeking her and was with her now on her deathbed." (Sermon: "God's Fondness for Futility")
ILLUSTRATION: Obedience In her bestselling book, No Bad Dogs, trainer Barbara Woodhouse writes: "Thousands of dogs appear to love their owners, they welcome them home with enthusiastic wagging of the tail and jumping up, they follow them about their houses happily and, to the normal person seeing the dog, the affection is true and deep. But to the experienced dog trainer this outward show is not enough. The true test of real love takes place when the dog has got the opportunity to go out on its own as soon as the door is left open by mistake and it goes off and often doesn't return home for hours. . . . True love in dogs is apparent when a door is left open and the dog still stays happily within earshot of its owner. For the owner must be the be-all and end-all of a dog's life." David Jeremiah says, "The real test of our Christianity isn't seen in our work or words. It's found in this: When we have an opportunity to wander away, to disobey, to leave His presence, do we choose instead to stay close to Him, to abide in Christ, and to obey? Is your love for Christ seen in your obedience and utter loyalty to Him and to Him alone?" (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 5-5-05)
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ILLUSTRATION: Baptism New Testament scholar Tom Wright observes that, "When people submit to Christian baptism, they die with the Messiah and are raised with him into a new life. That means, first and foremost, a change of status. . . . Once you are baptized, of course, you can try to shirk or shrug off your new responsibilities. You can pretend you don't after all have a new status. . . . But what you can't do is get unbaptized again." (Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part One; click here to learn more about Wright's book.)
ILLUSTRATION: Cost, Expenses Jill received a bill from the hospital for her recent surgery, and was astonished to see a $900 fee for the anesthesiologist. She called his office to demand an explanation. "Is this some kind of mistake?" Jill asked when she got the doctor on the phone. "No, not at all," the doctor said calmly. "Well," said Jill, "that's awfully costly for knocking someone out." "Not at all," replied the doctor. "I knock you out for free. The $900 is for bringing you back around." (Pastor Tim's Sermon Illustrations and Inspirations List)
"Happiness consists in being happy with what we have got and with what we haven't got." (Charles H. Spurgeon)
Don't Fear Failure In an article in the current issue of Leader Links (www.leaderlinks.com), famed basketball coach John Wooden emphasizes the need for leaders to take initiative and not be immobilized by a fear of failure: "If we allow the fear of failure to keep us from acting, we will never be a success or reach our full potential. Let's face it, we're all imperfect and we're going to fall short on occasion; but we must learn from failure, and that will enable us to avoid repeating our mistakes. Through adversity, we learn, grow stronger and become better people. When pondering this principle, I think of a poem I once memorized:
"My college coach once said, "The team that makes the most mistakes will probably outscore the other one." What he meant is that doers make mistakes, but if we aren't doing anything we're making the greatest mistake of all. We must not fail to act when action is needed. We cannot be afraid. We must act anyhow, knowing that at times, we will fail." Leader Links is a web-based publication for Christian leaders. The May issue is now available at www.leaderlinks.com. You can also subscribe to LeadingNow, a monthly e-mail newsletter featuring ideas and resources for Christian leaders (click here). Leader Links is a publication of American Ministry Resources, which is the publisher of PreachingNow, Preaching magazine and preaching.com.
ILLUSTRATION: Gifts, Dreams A woman awoke on Valentine's Day and announced excitedly to her husband, "Honey, last night I dreamed you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine's Day! What could that mean?" He replied with certainty, "You'll know tonight." Sure enough, he arrived home that evening carrying a small, beautifully wrapped package. She tore it open eagerly to find a book titled The Meaning of Dreams.
What is a grandmother? (Taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-olds.) • A grandmother is a lady who has no little children of her own. She likes other peoples'. • A grandfather is a man grandmother. • Grandmothers don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us. • When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars. • They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also why we shouldn't step on "cracks." • They don't say, "Hurry up." • Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes. • They wear glasses and funny underwear. • They can take their teeth and gums out. • Grandmothers don't have to be smart. • They have to answer questions like "why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?". • When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again. • Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television, because they are the only grown-ups who like to spend time with us. • They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we've acted bad.
And finally . . . Two would-be Canadian thieves discovered that knowing how to drive a car is a prerequisite for stealing one. According to a Reuters story, two male bandits — ages 17 and 19 — accosted a pizza delivery man in Edmonton, Alberta, and demanded the four pizzas he was carrying as well as cash. At some point, they apparently changed their minds and jumped into the man's car. But there was no getaway — it turns out the 17-year-old behind the wheel didn't know how to drive a stick shift. Facing the mystery of a manual transmission and clutch, the pair refocused their attention on the pizzas, a police spokesman said. "It
was a toss-up between pizzas and the car, and they knew how
to operate As police arrived, they spotted one of the suspects entering the home where the pizzas were to be delivered. Both were arrested and charged with robbery and theft under $3,000. Police also recovered the pizzas.
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